Pokémon, you're not allowed to expel me from human form!

When people from other regions talk about the Central Plains, they often only know four cities: Yingdu, Shengjing, Haijing, and Dongdu.

This demonstrates the formidable power of Eagle City.

So normally, it's not surprising to the people of Eagle City if any powerful trainer, famous tycoon, celebrity, official, scholar, or artist suddenly moves there.

All too common.

Can...

"The Ripple Gym moved across from the Grass and Tree Gym!?"

This news has truly broadened the horizons of the well-informed people of Yingdu.

After all, gyms aren't something you can just move around on a whim. Every year, the trainers who challenge the gyms and the enthusiasts who come to watch bring a lot of revenue to the city where the gyms are located.

Not to mention the gym leaders and trainers within the gyms, many of whom are quite powerful. If something were to happen, these strong trainers would be a force to be reckoned with.

The dojo, which is so important to the city, has now moved away, and even moved to their location.

And the location they moved to... it's got a tense atmosphere!

Even the people of Eagle City felt that the two dojos were likely to fight.

The head of the Eagle City Alliance branch even pitched a tent on the roadside around the two gyms and decided to stay there!

He didn't even stay in a hotel, which was a way of saying, "If you want to fight, kill me first!"

But in reality, the Grass and Wood Gym Leader, Ningya, knew the seriousness of the matter. As an Elite Four member and a native of Eagle City, she had no intention of starting a war with the Ripple Gym.

only...

"Kallen has been replaced. Her older sister Carmen, who ran away from home years ago, is now the Ripple Gym Leader. All of these things were decided by her... Eh, I see."

Ning Ya hung up the phone and sighed deeply.

She had a feeling something was wrong before; she knew Karen and knew Karen wouldn't do such a thing.

But she really didn't expect Karen to be replaced.

"Kallen is not weak...and she is by no means a weak person, otherwise how could she have raised Magikarp to be one of her main characters?"

"So what exactly is the situation with this sister of hers named Carmen?"

...

The Ripple Gym is currently located opposite the Grass and Tree Gym.

But the house here was bought and its appearance was changed. However, since the dojo was established here, no one from the Ripple Dojo has ever appeared inside the dojo.

These people are not in Daze City either; it's practically as if they've all disappeared.

Otherwise, Ningya would have approached Carmen long ago and started resolving the issue.

So where are the people from the Ripple Dojo?

Inside the secret base built by Company Z beneath Changfeng Caohai!

Ning Ya had never heard of Carmen, but if it were an elite or high-ranking member of Z Company headquarters, just hearing the name would remind them of one of their four main executives—Saint Carmen.

The title "Saint" for Carmen was given to her spontaneously by people within Company Z who knew her well.

Compared to the other executives, Carmen treats the elite trainers within Company Z very well. Many of these elites were trained by her alone, so it wouldn't be wrong to call her Company Z's head instructor.

Being able to stand in this position means that she is quite outstanding as a trainer.

Among the four executives, Rando is obsessed with martial arts and usually serves as Wakamichi's bodyguard. As a result, his trainer skills have been somewhat neglected, making him the second to last among the executives.

Nibiru the Beast... He doesn't have any Pokémon, which is a very special case, hence his ranking at the bottom of Randyll.

Carmen and Dragon are, in the traditional sense, powerful trainers.

They are at least Elite Four level trainers.

So if she really is hiding in the shadows, preparing to do something funny to Ningya, that would be quite a scary thing.

But those who know her well know that she wouldn't do that.

"Since we're going to take down Ning Ya, we should defeat her head-on."

"But the Boss's mission means that simply defeating her isn't enough. I need some leverage to launch a battle for the throne that she can't refuse."

"That's why I need the Ripple Gym as one of my bargaining chips."

"Karen, my sister, I wonder if you can accept my explanation?"

Hearing her sister's words, Kallen, who also had long white hair but whose features and expressions were more lively than Carmen's, who always had a smile on her face, frowned.

"I cannot accept this."

"But that's how the rules are in the family. In the absence of anyone being able to successfully use the power of aura, whoever is the stronger trainer gets to decide."

"You defeated me, so you are now the head of the Ka family and the Ripple Gym Leader. Whether I can accept this or not is not important to you, is it?"

Karen responded in this way, and Carmen seemed to want to say something more, but Karen didn't want to talk about it anymore. She turned around and left, leaving Carmen with only her back view.

Carmen's smile remained unchanged; she simply shook her head slightly.

She knew that her younger sister had never been a very disciplined person since childhood, and she also knew that she would do something bad later, but Carmen did not intend to stop her.

Ideally, Karen should go directly to Ningya and let her weigh the pros and cons, skip the formalities, and fight her directly, getting it over with in one go!

Sure enough, not long after Karen left, a subordinate from Company Z reported that her younger sister, who was courageous, energetic, and determined but not very bright, had been defeated!

However, perhaps because she hadn't seen Karen for many years, she made a slight mistake in her judgment of Karen.

That is, Karen took something before she threw it.

It's a family heirloom of the same brand.

Waveguide stone!

Legend has it that this treasure can detect whether a person is qualified to cultivate the power of aura and can help qualified people awaken their aura power.

Carmen didn't care about this thing before, and now he just shook his head slightly.

"Let her be. Not only has she not considered that I'm not exactly rule-abiding either, but our family hasn't found anyone capable of awakening Aura power in all these years, and she expects to find such a person in such a short time..."

"Hey, is Karen's brain even less sharp than when she was a child? I'm really worried about her future."

......

8. You're a silly, beautiful girl, right?

Luo Ke left Tiangang.

The meal he had with Lan Tianwu and Zuo Ma earlier was his farewell. The next morning, Luo Ke said goodbye to Bai Linglong, the little cook, and then left in the morning sunlight.

Following Luo Ke's travel route, after leaving Tiangang, he went directly into Changfeng Grass Sea.

It seems that very few people travel like him.

Generally speaking, even those who take this route would not think of hiking across the Grass Sea. Most would take the Steel-Armored Ravens transported by Eagle City to cross the Grass Sea and arrive in Eagle City directly.

And walking...

Given the sheer size of Changfeng Grass Sea, many people would probably feel dizzy just thinking about it.

Luo Ke initially thought that this kind of trip might end up like the Long March, but he just wanted to experience it. If he really wanted to end it, he could burst into speed at any time to continue the journey and wouldn't really encounter any major problems.

But to his surprise, this route, which few people hike, was actually quite easy.

Most of the roads weren't particularly difficult to walk on. With no shade overhead, the sky was azure, and the earth was lush and green. This striking scenery gave Luo Ke a sense of freedom, as if his entire heart had been liberated.

Moreover, the nomadic people here are different from what Roc had imagined.

It's no longer just the pattern of the Kingdoms period. In many places on the grasslands, you can see houses that have been built. They are not tall and there are not many people gathered there, but you can see such 'gathering places' from time to time.

They were like supply stations.

When you get tired of the scenery of the Grass Sea, the occasional appearance of fairies becomes a new source of anticipation.

In modern cities, or even in some areas where Pokémon gather, you probably wouldn't see so many groups of the same kind of Pokémon running around.

The feeling was earth-shattering; one glance from afar and you couldn't take your eyes off it.

I won't leave until I've finished reading it.

Overall, everything was new and exciting on Luo Ke's first day in the Grass Sea. He even walked normally and arrived at a gathering place, where he paid to spend the night.

Although the facilities are a bit old, the house is very clean, and you can also enjoy the local specialties.

Salty milk tea, roasted meat buns, stewed mutton...

Some dairy-based desserts are also a favorite of Victini and Mewtwo.

That's right, Mewtwo is also a fan of sweet things, so in this respect he's allied with Victini.

As night fell completely, the people in the settlement would light a bonfire in the central square, and then everyone would gather around to chat, laugh, sing, and dance... Although Rocco was only watching all this from a high vantage point through the window, he still chuckled at the atmosphere.

Luo Ke was quite satisfied with the culture, food, and scenery.

However, he only planned to stay here for one day. He had seen everything he wanted to see, and he planned to leave early tomorrow morning to continue his journey to Eagle City.

But to Luo Ke's surprise, when he checked out of the room and was carrying his backpack to leave, he unexpectedly saw a different kind of scenery.

As the clean morning sunlight shone down, even cleaner than the light was the girl's long, white hair. On the only way to leave the gathering place, a beautiful figure stood there.

In terms of looks, she's still a notch below Alice.

But when he turned around, his smile, warmer than the sunshine, made Luo Ke's gaze linger for a moment.

There must have been a moment when their eyes met.

So the girl took the initiative to walk towards Luo Ke.

Her actions brought Luo Ke back to his senses.

As a time traveler from the modern era, his first reaction was... he might be in trouble!

But considering the situation of most people in this world, and seeing the girl's warm smile, Luo Ke felt that it probably wouldn't happen.

Although he saw her here, he could tell from her skin and demeanor that she came from a good family. Maybe she recognized him and came over to say hello?

Or is it some kind of etiquette for young ladies?

In short, Luo Ke's impression of this girl was that she would go into her study in the afternoon, drinking red tea and reading poetry.

but...

Snapped!

She walked up to Luo Ke and grabbed his hands with both of them.

The moment he opened his mouth, he shattered the images in Luo Ke's mind.

"Sir, I haven't eaten for days. Please, have some food."

hiss--

Luo Ke had considered many possibilities, but he never expected that the other party was begging for food!

This left Luo Ke somewhat bewildered.

"Are you... having some trouble?"

"Ah... um! Sir, my name is Karen. I ran into some trouble, so I forgot to bring any money with me when I came out, and I don't know the way around the grasslands. But don't worry, I'll definitely pay you back when I get to Eagle City!"

Karen's words left Rocco even more bewildered.

He had only been on the Changfeng Grassland for a day, and his pace was not fast as he was not traveling at full speed but just on a normal hiking trip.

In other words, this settlement was definitely built on the very edge of the Changfeng Grassland.

They got lost on the grassland; their destination was Eagle City...

"Miss Karen, may I ask you a question? From which location did you set off towards Eagle City?"

Karen was a little puzzled, but she still answered Rocco.

"I looked at the map before I left. I should have started from the central area of ​​Changfeng Grass Sea. Actually, it's not that far from Eagle City. I've been trying to find a way to get there for almost ten days. If I continue in that direction, I feel like I should be there soon."

As she spoke, Karen extended her fair finger and pointed in a direction for Rocco.

Luo Ke could tell that her eyes were quite serious, and she was definitely not being silly.

The direction she was pointing in...